Interactive services provide a wide variety of data and on-line information to individual subscribers. Many service providers, such as CompuServe, have for a long time made information available to users in a highly interactive fashion. Much of this information may be downloaded by the user for printing or for future use.
Such on-line service providers electronically "publish" information that is contained in literally hundreds of databases. In some cases, the owners of these databases have expended large amounts of money to develop the information and to provide it to subscribers in a user-friendly fashion. To compensate these database providers for the time, effort, and expense involved in establishing and maintaining the database, a per-use charge or royalty is charged to subscribers accessing the database.
Information made available by database providers can be technical information, music, graphical information, and a host of other types of information, all of which is easily stored in a database and accessed by users in an on-line fashion. These types of information also constitute copyrightable subject matter. Once accessed by legitimate users it is easily stored off-line--and copied.
It is unfortunate that in today's computer-permeated society, copyrighted information is often copied by individuals who have no intention of paying a royalty to the creator or provider of that information. This has an immediate detrimental impact on the database owner in that a royalty for use of the data is not collected. In a greater sense, such abuse and economic loss discourage developing business entities from entering the on-line service provider marketplace, thereby denying legitimate users access to information and squelching innovation.
Certain systems have been devised which address some of the issues noted above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,251,294 to Abelow was issued for "Accessing, Assembling, and Using Bodies of Information." This invention comprises an interactive system with a built-in copyright accounting feature. However, the system does nothing to track unauthorized copying that occurs once the information is in the hands of a legitimate user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,696 to Keiser, II et al. describes a "Data Processing System and Method to Produce Softcopy Book Readers, Which are Limited to Reading Only Books Published by a Specific Publisher." This system is actually an access control system whereby only users having a certain "key" can have access to a particular book in softcopy form. Again, while this invention limits access to the data available on a system, it does nothing to track that data once the information is downloaded and copied.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,132,992 to Yurt et al. describes an "Audio and Video Transmission and Receiving System." This system is an interactive multi-media type information subscription service which provides both picture and sound transmission over communications channels. While this invention addresses the issue of multi-media transmission over a communications link, it does not provide a means for tracking that information in case it is illicitly copied.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,213 to Shear describes a "Database Usage Metering and Protection System and Method." This system addresses the issue of illegal copying of databases by encrypting databases stored on a mass storage device. As a user accesses information, it is decrypted and the access is recorded, with billing being accomplished based on an appropriate user fee. Again, this system limits access to the information but does nothing to determine whether that information is being subsequently copied by an unauthorized person. U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,594 to Shear and U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,508 to Shear also disclose systems for encrypting a database. However, nothing is done to track subsequent copying.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,087 to Taub et al. discloses an "Education Utility." This invention is a system for distributing educational information in digital form to schools via satellite to FM stations. The system also keeps track of usage to permit billing of royalty charges. Once again, however, no provision is made for tracking subsequent copying after an initial transmission.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,977 to Izumi et al. describes a "Cartridge Programming System and Method Using a Central and Local Program Library." This is a system for keeping account of the use of data to assure the payment of royalties. However, nothing is done to track data in the event it is illicitly copied.
While all of the above systems address the problem of charging a royalty or fee for downloaded copyrighted material, none of the systems attempts to solve the problem of subsequent, royalty-free copying. A system which could track subsequent copying would allow the collection of more royalty fees, deter future copyright infringement, and encourage innovation among current and potential database service providers.